"Warning! Warning! Warning! We've detected a great number of interstellar fighter and drone units about to reach our region!"
Aboard both the slavers' Fourth Fleet and Fifth Fleet, this warning cry rang out.
Perhaps, in times past, a warning of this kind would have counted for nothing. Just interstellar fighters and drones, wasn't it? It wasn't as though they'd never seen the like.
But this time, they dared not treat it with the least carelessness. For what they saw was a full 3,000 T3-grade interstellar drones, and 300 T3 interstellar fighters besides! Sweeping in upon them like mountains roaring and seas surging!
And this was not merely a matter of fighters and drones as figures on a tally — it was a terrifying long-range strike capability!
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Interstellar missiles detected inbound!"
Hard on its heels, the warning cry sounded again. On the bridge radars of the two slaver interstellar fleets' flagships, one could see clearly that behind those 3,000-odd points of light there were, moreover, round upon round of hundreds of interstellar missiles, for all the world like a meteor shower, coming streaking toward their positions.
"This is Phoenix First Squad; we'll enter fighter attack range in five minutes. Over." A pilot of a T3 Phoenix-class interstellar fighter, Pei Shengnan, watched the pages of the various data screens before her, and that stretch of enemy fleet opposite, locked as her target.
Pei Shengnan cast a glance at a finger-sized tattoo on her wrist — one she'd tattooed there after surviving that catastrophe. It was the emblem of the Bloody Mary Mercenary Company. That emblem stood not only for the history of the Bloody Mary Mercenary Company, but likewise for the attack the Bloody Mary Mercenary Company's home base had suffered, and for the hatred owed to those several thousand brothers and sisters who'd fallen. She would not permit herself to forget!
By rights, as the former vice-commander of the Bloody Mary Mercenary Company, she — never mind serving as the captain of a T3 warship in Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon Fleet — was more than qualified to captain a T2 Black Rhino. But when the Owl Dragon Fleet had begun recruiting interstellar fighter pilots, this former interstellar mercenary vice-commander had joined among them without a backward glance. She'd had rich interstellar-fighter piloting experience before this; and had it not been that the Bloody Mary Mercenary Company lacked a leader, then — set against commanding a warship into battle — what she'd loved more was that unfettered, unbound feeling of the interstellar fighter. Above all this T3 Phoenix-class interstellar fighter she piloted now. She'd had the good fortune to be among the first batch of test pilots; and from the moment she sat in this T3 Phoenix-class fighter, she'd had a feeling as though something had entered her body and merged into one with her. And now, not only could she fly the interstellar fighter of her very dreams — she could use it to take revenge for her interstellar mercenary company besides!
"All warships of the Fourth Fleet and Fifth Fleet — intercept the incoming interstellar missiles at once, and at the same time make ready to defend against the enemy's interstellar fighters!" In the starport command room, the Big-Eye King gave order after order without cease. But an ill premonition had already risen in his heart.
Those were interstellar fighters, and T3-grade interstellar fighters at that; with T2 interstellar escort ships one simply couldn't intercept them — one needed T3 interstellar escort ships. But the trouble was, his T3 interstellar escort ships, counting every last one, came to under 15! And these were divided across six interstellar fleets. Under such a comparison of enemy against self, the scene to come could well be imagined.
"First Fleet, Second Fleet, and Third Fleet — abandon the encirclement of the enemy's interstellar stealth bombers; go at once to reinforce the Fourth Fleet and Fifth Fleet! Once you've held off the enemy's first wave of assault, go straight over to the offensive at once, and find the position of the enemy's carrier starship!" The Big-Eye King changed his strategy. Hateful though those five interstellar stealth bombers were, the most important thing just now was still the situation on the frontal battlefield before them.
Receiving the order, the First, Second, and Third Fleets at once began to move to reinforce in the direction of the Fourth and Fifth Fleets. And just at this time, Number Two — Skinny Monkey — commanding the Second Fleet, and Number Three — Scarface — commanding the Third Fleet, witnessed the horrifying scene of the Fourth and Fifth Fleets under round upon round of interstellar-missile attack.
Perhaps because the enemy had set the interstellar missiles' firing speeds in advance, though the several rounds of missiles had been fired one after another, in the end they combined together into one terrifying curtain of fire! A full 2,000 interstellar missiles! For all the world like a meteor shower loosed as though it cost nothing, they burst apart within the formations of the Fourth and Fifth Fleets, red fireball after exploding red fireball devouring those warships. That scene was for all the world like a cosmic catastrophe; and though a portion of the interstellar missiles were intercepted, still more of them fell precisely upon those warships! One slaver warship after another fell in succession.
In the starport command room, the Big-Eye King watched, on the several screens before him, the roster of his own warships steadily going dark, and that dwindling number, and his heart began to grow anxious.
"Send out a distress signal!" The Big-Eye King, by now with no leisure to weigh much of anything, gave the order to his confidant.
The confidant's face shook. He knew what his boss's words meant: to send out a distress signal was to send a distress signal to His Highness the prince's side. His Highness the prince had reminded them before not to seek his aid unless driven to the utter extremity. And it seemed that now, in the boss's eyes, they had already come to that utter extremity.
The interstellar-missile assault soon ended. And the data of the warships lost appeared, too, before the Big-Eye King.
Warships lost outright had reached over 300. Among them were three T3 warships, 100 T2 warships, and 200 T1 warships! And the number of warships crippled was, moreover, twice that figure!
Most important of all, the whole battle formation of the Fourth and Fifth Fleets had been thrown into disorder.
And just as the interstellar-missile assault ended, while the chaos caused by the explosions had not yet dispersed, the warships of the Fourth and Fifth Fleets soon discovered, to their terror, that a wave of interstellar fighters and drones had already appeared right before them! With the fire-strike of the interstellar missiles, it made for a perfect, seamless join!
The interstellar drones, launching their attack first, split into one combat squad after another and set upon the enemy — chiefly attacking the enemy fleet's main-force warships, and some of the T2-grade main-force warships. Ships of the sort of the interstellar battleship, the interstellar battlecruiser, and the like. These warships, which in ship battles of the past had swaggered and flaunted their might, were just now each of them beaten so soundly they hadn't a shred of temper left in them. That pitiful defensive firepower of theirs, before these interstellar drones, was for all the world like using a pistol to shoot mosquitoes — not the least bit of use.
And this was only the beginning.
For, mind you, behind them there were the still more terrifying interstellar fighters! And the object the 300 T3 Phoenix-class interstellar fighters were aimed at was, of course, the enemy's T3 warships! Bearing their one-directional shields, they went straight in and had at them!
The Fourth Fleet's flagship.
"Warning! The hull is under attack; the hull armor's comprehensive strength stands at 65% remaining!"
"Warning! The hull's No.4-position secondary gun has been destroyed!"
The flagship's captain, just now, was scorched to his very wits' end; though over on the Big-Eye King's side the boss kept giving order upon order, his own command system here had already fallen into utter chaos.
Suddenly, he stared, aghast, at the scene before him. There, above his own flagship, several flat-formed interstellar fighters with exceedingly long wingspans had appeared! And appeared all of a sudden, at that — never once detected in the earlier reconnaissance! That shape, that silhouette…
These were interstellar stealth bomber craft!